Router Lift Recommendation

[Anon]

I am in the middle of outfitting my garage shop and am looking to purchase a router lift to go with the PC 7518 I bought. I have done a bit of research on Google and the web and have narrowed it down to the Woodpecker PRL (or maybe the Unilift) and the Benchdog Prolift Max. What is anyone's opinion of these two.

I like the precision and the chain drive on the PRL, but teh heaviness of the cast iron construction of the Benchdog is definitely a plus. The only thing I really have against the Benchdog is the 1/8" per turn. And the PRL has two thread columns instead of just one like the Prolift has.

Any help deciding between the two would be appreciated.

Russell

[Kevin]

I got the PRL from Woodpecker at the Orange CA wood working show about a year ago and it's great. I have a 7518 in it also. The lift is very heavy, solid and smooth. I wondered if the cast iron would make for a better lift back then also, but now I completely doubt it. This thing does not flex.

I also wondered about the 16 TPI vs 32 TPI that the PRL is available in. They had both in the booth at the time and Aaron (Woodpecker demo guy) dropped a slight hint which I'm glad I picked up on. Get the 16 TPI. When you need that last 1/32" adjustment, a half turn will give it to you just fine. You'll be glad you did about the 10th time you go to crank the bit up to change it and drop the new one back down.

Did I mention it's heavy, and I had to park the truck a long way away from the show entrance?

Kevin in Bakersfield

[David]

I've got a 7518 in a 16TPI PRL and love it. There is absolutely NO backlash in the lift mechanism, which is more than I can say for their main competition at the time of my purchase. It's solid as a rock and I've never had any trouble with it whatsoever. Keep in mind that there are newer lifts on the market since I bought my PRL.

David

[e-mail] wrote:

[DJ Delorie]

I got the PRL back before they had the 16tpi threads (thus I have the

32tpi threads). It's rock solid, has zero backlash or racking, and is truly accurate to 0.001" vertically. In fact, it's so solid I recently had to take it apart to clean it because the accumulated gunk tightened it up a little more - which made it nearly impossible to crank. Them's close tolerances!

The PRL feels like cast iron when you pick it up too. Just because it's aluminum doesn't mean it's wimpy.

[Never Enough Money]

How 'bout the ones from JessEm?

[russellfletcher]

I looked at the Mast-R-Lift but it seemed to me the other two were more substantial and better engineered.

[russellfletcher]

I have ordered the PRL from Woodpecker. Thanks for all the input. It was VERY helpful in making my decision.

Russell